The Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, has warned that his army will resist NATO troops if they enter Kosovo in support of international peace monitors.

In an interview with the United States publications, Newsweek and The Washington Post, Mr Milosevic said Kosovo must always be part of Serbia and would never recover the autonomy it had under communism.

Mr Milosevic also rejected the redrafted US peace plan, saying it favoured the ethnic Albanian population at the expense of the Serb minority.

His comments coincided with the arrival of more NATO soldiers in neighbouring Macedonia.

Their mission is to extract the monitors in Kosovo if they are endangered.